The contest served as the featured bouts of the Showtime-broadcast main card of Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov” event at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

Kharitonov moved forward early and connected with a handful of stiff straight punches. Barnett answered with a few strong counters before securing a takedown and moving immediately into mount. Kharitonov bucked underneath, but Barnett’s base was secure and he dropped in a few crushing elbows and slapping hammerfists.

Kharitonov tried his best to keep things tight while underneath his foe, but Barnett continued to deliver damage from the top. Kharitonov rolled to his knees to avoid damage, and Barnett continued to pound away from the back. As Kharitonov looked to roll again, he left his arm behind, and Barnett secured the head and arm, locking in a fight-ending side choke.

Former Olympic wrestler Cormier wasn’t even a blip on the radar when Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix got underway. But after blasting Silva in their semifinal contest, “D.C.” punched his ticket to the finals.

After a brief feeling-out process in their co-feature contest, Cormier punished Silva with a massive right hand. Cormier briefly followed to the floor but elected to return to the feet rather than engage on the mat. It was immediately evident Silva hadn’t quite recovered as a few left hands wobbled him again. The woozy Brazilian then shot in for an unsuccessful double leg.

As the round wore on, Cormier again dumped Silva to the floor with a sweep. Cormier again asked “Pezao” to return to the feet, where he landed a crisp combination inside, dropping his much-larger opponent with a stiff uppercut. A few hammerfists followed, and referee Greg Franklin mercifully halted the onslaught.

Barnett and Cormier will now meet in a grand prix final contest in early 2012.

Rockhold stuns “Jacare” in five-round thriller

With nearly 19 months away from the sport, American Kickboxing Academy’s Luke Rockhold was give little chance of wresting the Strikeforce middleweight title away from Brazilian Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. But after an entertaining 25-minute affair, Rockhold displayed exactly why the fights aren’t contested on paper.

Rockhold opened with a few snapping low kicks, stuffing a takedown before being tagged with an overhand right. Souza followed the punch with a charging takedown attempt and brought the action to the floor. Rockhold briefly worked his way back to the feet, but he also absorbed several powerful right hands in the process.

Rockhold again worked back to the feet, and he found a home for several impressive kicks to various levels. Souza quickly closed the distance and looked for a takedown that didn’t come. The round ended there, and while Souza seemed to take the frame, Rockhold impressed with his late fireworks.

Rockhold looked more comfortable to open the second frame, and he again went to work with snapping kicks. But Souza again dropped him with a straight punch, bringing the crowd to its feet. Somehow, Rockhold popped immediately back up and continued to scrap Souza.

Despite the early work from Souza, Rockhold again turned up the heat late, giving judges something to consider.

Rockhold opened the third with more kicks from all angles. Unfortunately, one scored a direct shot to the groin, and Souza took a little time to recover from the blow. On the restart, Souza went to work on a takedown, but he couldn’t keep Rockhold on the floor.

As the third carried on, Souza looked to tire and was stagnant on the feet. While Souza did a good job of blocking many of Rockhold’s strikes, the American Kickboxing Academy product continued to pour on the offense.

As the championship rounds unfolded, Rockhold established himself as the aggressor. Rockhold’s combinations overshadowed Souza’s single blows. Souza did unleash a solid series of blows in the middle of the frame, but it was Rockhold who pushed his foe around the cage and dictated the pace.

With four tightly contested rounds, the fifth appeared to be imperative for both fighters. Rockhold again kept to his strategy of punches (and kicks) in bunches, while Souza looked to land big overhand rights.

Souza finally earned a takedown halfway into the final round, but Rockhold wiggled up to his feet before any real damage was done. Rockhold then unleashed his hands, rattling his foe with a few combinations. Rockhold continued to press forward until the final bell, and Souza tried to answer with power shots, and both fighters shot their hands in the air at the final bell.

As it turns out, only Rockhold had the right to do it, as he was granted a unanimous-decision win and immediately broke into tears while handed the belt.

Fighting for the first time in more than one year, wrestling stud Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal elected to pass on grappling with submission ace Roger Gracie. The approach paid off.

Both fighters opened cautiously in the standup game. Lawal carried his left hand low as his fighting moniker was chanted inside the arena. Lawal controlled the center of the cage as Gracie circled on the outside, firing in a few kicks and knees when the opportunity arose.

Lawal struggled a bit trying to navigate the reach while not allowing Gracie to clinch, and the moderate pace earned a few boos and a pair of warnings from the match referee to get busy.

In the final minute of the opening round, Lawal did.

A powerful right hook from Lawal sent Gracie crashing to the canvas. The bout was probably over there, but Lawal followed with a few additional shots to ensure the result before rising to celebrate the emphatic win.

“I respect Gracie’s power,” Lawal said after the win. “He’s so tall and long, I couldn’t gauge the length of his reach. I just tried to see where I could land my super right hand. I knew if I could land that right hand he was going out. I didn’t know if it was coming in the first round, but I knew it was coming.”

The victory was Lawal’s first since losing the Strikeforce belt to
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante in August 2010, and “King Mo” admitted he’d
appreciate a chance to revisit the matchup.

With the win, Lawal (8-1 MMA, 3-1 SF) successfully rebounds from the first loss of his career. Meanwhile, Gracie (4-1 MMA, 2-1 SF) loses for the first time as a professional.

Healy survives illegal blows, chokes Blanco

Late replacement Pat Healy continued his rise up the Strikeforce lightweight ranks with an impressive victory over Venezuelan vet Maximo Blanco, but the victory did not come easy.

Blanco worked the fight to the floor early with a powerful low kick to an off-balance Healy. But Blanco couldn’t capitalize on the position, and Healy escaped to his feet. Blanco continued to attack in the striking game, blasting Healy with a series of high kicks and well-timed punching attacks. Healy looked to work his submission game from underneath, but Blanco inexplicably kicked his downed opponent’s face multiple times and was docked a point.

Blanco appeared energized by the call and went quickly to work with a barrage of strikes on the feet before Healy locked his body and drug him to the floor. Healy landed a few hammerfists while controlling from the back, but the blood dripping from his face told the story of the opening round.

Blanco continued the assault in the second, picking his opponent apart with wild uppercuts and punches from all angles. Healy nearly ended the fight with a rear-naked choke after dropping his foe with a straight, but Blanco somehow survived what appeared to be a very deep hold.

Back on the feet, Blanco continued to assault his opponent with a plethora of blows, but Healy worked a little magic with a slick transition into a rear crucifix before locking in a rear-naked choke. Despite being a little off-center, Healy squeezed the choke and earned the tap with 36 seconds left in the round.

“I took this fight on short notice, but I was actually eyeing this fight from the get-go,” Healy said of his win. “I just wanted to stay in Maximo’s face. You can’t keep up his kind of explosive pace the whole time, so I knew if I made him go five minutes like that, the second round he’d be done.

“My experience and cardio both came into play. I wanted to keep a steady, in-your-face pace – explode like he does but stay steady. He’s super dangerous. You can’t fault him for a second, and you can’t lay back on him. I just had to keep pushing at a steady pace.”

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